Prosecutor: ‘I believe we are dealing with an individual who is going to kill someone’

Officers found several guns, drugs, body armor and ammunition Wednesday when they served a search warrant at a Thurston County home.

The Thurston County Narcotics Task Force arrested Joshua A. Little, 31, and Sarah C. Brown, 30. Both suspects appeared in Thurston County Superior Court on Thursday. Judge Erik Price set bail at $150,000 for Little and $50,000 for Brown.

Price also found probable cause for several charges against each defendant. Little may face charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance (heroin) with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a stolen firearm, and unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun.

Brown may face charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in a corrections institution, unlawful possession of a controlled substance (heroin) with intent to deliver, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to deliver.

Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Wheeler said he believes Little is the leader of a local white supremacist group, and that he was recently released from a seven-year prison sentence for robbery. He said the items allegedly found on Little’s property — which include homemade noise suppressors and laser sights in addition to the body armor, guns and ammunition — troubled him.

“I believe that we are dealing with an individual who is going to kill someone,” Wheeler said.

Court documents give the following account:

Officers from the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, the Thurston County SWAT Team and the Washington State Patrol executed a search warrant at a home on the 4000 block of 89th Avenue Southeast in Thurston County at about 5:20 a.m. Wednesday. When they pulled into the driveway, they saw someone throwing items out the door of a detached building on the property.

Officers ordered the occupants, identified as Little and Brown, to exit the building, and took them into custody without incident.

They began searching the area and found a large piece of heroin on the stairs, and more in the yard. The placement of the heroin indicated that it had been thrown from the building.

Inside the apartment, officers found plastic baggies, a digital scale, methamphetamine and a jar containing several small pieces of heroin. They also found a large amount of firearms equipment, ammunition and holsters in the room.

A detective spoke with Little’s father, who lives in the main house on the property. He admitted to owning four firearms: two shotguns, a rifle and a pistol. The shotguns and rifle were kept in his closet, and the pistol was kept in a safe. He said he didn’t know of any other guns on the property.

However, officers found an illegal sawed-off shotgun, two sawed-off shotgun barrels, a Howa .223 bolt action rifle, two .22-caliber rifles, a suitcase full of ammunition and body armor. Little said he didn’t know anything about the guns, but he knew the body armor belonged to Little.

Officers found a safe and asked Little’s father about it. He said that he had placed his pistol and $13,000 in the safe, but he didn’t know the combination because it belonged to Little. Officers opened the safe and found the pistol and money.

They also found heroin, what they believed to be LSD, and another gun that had been reported stolen.

Both Brown and Little were transported to the Thurston County Jail. When corrections deputies searched Brown, they found a large amount of heroin that was presumably “inserted inside of her” during the search of the property.

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Prosecutor: ‘I believe we are dealing with an individual who is going to kill someone’."